GNU/Linux and Open Standards

Free software is software free of restrictions and limitations, and is
sometimes also available under an arrangement where there is no
purchase fee. While free software and open standards don't necessarily
go hand-in-hand, open standards provide a level playing field for all
to compete, and so open standards are just as important as free
software. Many governments and organisations around the world are
moving to GNU/Linux and Open Standards. We illustrate some of these
below. This is merely a snapshot, and indeed it was becoming a
significant task to keep this list up-to-date,

Unfortunately, we live in a commercial world where very large
financial and self interests take precedence over common sense and a
care for humanity. I have had the opportunity to discuss and present
open source to many people, including politicians. These politicians
have seen the sense of open standards and open source, and some have
even had open source products (e.g., OpenOffice) installed for their
own use. But a common story is that once they started openly
advocating open source, they were bombarded by a stream of well funded
lobbyists espousing the problems with open source. Unfortunately we
generally only have the evidence to support the case for open source,
rather than flashy and well paid smooth talkers. So let the evidence
speak. If MS/Windows or Mac/OSX suit your needs and you are
comfortable being locked into their environments, that is fine. That
is why we have choice. But do make sure you understand that you are
locked into whatever the software manufacturer wants to supply
you--you have no freedoms there.

In September 2006 the City of Munich announced that it has
started deploying a Debian-based solution on employees Desktops,
replacing existing Microsoft Windows
setups. Debian
News carried the announcement from the
City
of Munich web site.

In December 2005, the Chief Technology Officer of the French
Tax Agency gave a
presentation on
their adoption of OpenSource. From the presentation and an interview
with
Groklaw
he indicates that FOSS is now our standard policy even for
critical applications, that new servers are all GNU/Linux based,
and that some 4000 servers run GNU/Linux.

In September 2005 the Australian state of New South Wales'
Office of State Revenue announced it will scope a transition to
GNU/Linux on the desktop within 6 months. The report in
LinuxWorld
indicates that significant cost savings are expected, in particular
with the new licensing arrangements for Microsoft's Vista.

In September 2005 the State of Massachusetts decided to
standardise all desktop applications on the OpenDocument format, as
reported by CNet. This
is a unencumbered open format that anyone is able to conform to, and
many open source products already do. Notably, Microsoft has sofar
declined to support such an open standard.

In May 2005 Nokia announced an Internet tablet PC that uses Debian as
the operating system. The Nokia 770
(http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS3716070830.html) uses Linux
because it is “the best source for software that could be adopted,
adapted, and integrated into an excellent consumer product.”

The Brazilian Government, as reported in the New York Times,
28 March 2005, has looked to “save millions of dollars in royalties
and licensing fees” by switching to “to free operating systems, like
Linux.”

In March 2005, South Korea's Ministry of Information and
Communications launched “a government-wide promotion to increase the
free use of the Linux operating system in the public sector,” as
reported in TechNewsWorld, 28 March 2005.

EDS, a multinational computer services company, and very much
a MS/Windows shop, wanted to implement a messaging system to provide
support world wide. The deployed system is built on GNU/Linux. They
comment:

The new Linux environment provides a level of security and stability
unavailable elsewhere. Because it is open-source software, it also
offers significant cost savings on licensing and allows EDS to
provide faster, more responsive support because programming problems
can be diagnosed and repaired more quickly.

LinuxWorld Australia reported
(17
December 2004) on Cisco's adoption of GNU/Linux on the
Desktop, on the grounds of easier support. Cisco, the report goes on,
have already converted more than 2,000 of its engineers to Linux
desktops and plans to move laptop users to the platform over the next
few years. An IT manager at Cisco (and chairman of the Open Source
Development Lab's (OSDL) Desktop Linux Steering Committee) estimates
that it takes a company approximately one desktop administrator to
support 40 MS/Windows desktop, while one administrator can support
between 200 and 400 GNU/Linux desktops, through tools such as ssh!

An article in ZDNet UK on November 30, 2004
(http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxu) reports how
Europcar International reduced its IT costs with Debian
GNU/Linux thin clients. The car hire firm cut its hardware and
maintenance costs dramatically by migrating 1,500 rental stations to
thin clients running Linux, with another By converting fat clients to
terminal servers running GNU/Linux they reduced the total cost of
ownership by 60 percent. Europcar tuned a version of Debian to
include specific inventory, security and remote management tools
needed by the company. The main advantage for Europcar was the
ability to centrally manage the terminals in its 1,500 rental stations
spread across Europe, dramatically reducing the cost of maintaining
the systems and in particular the cost of implementing updates.

The Venezuelan State Government announced in September 2004
that it will switch to free software (see, for example,
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1373). President
Chavez announced that free software will be used “in an official and
obligatory manner ... in the public administration.” In December 2004
(as mentioned on
Slashdot
the
government
issued a decree to prioritise the use of free and open source
software over proprietary systems in government entities. This follows
a year of pilot deployments in Venezuela's Info Centros (Internet
public access points) and some ministries. The decree calls for plans
to actively deploy FLOSS during a 24-month period. Related articles
include http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1439.

The Swiss Taxation Office distribute a CDROM with the open
source office suite called Open Office. On the CDROM is an Open Office
version of the Tax form. Tax payers fill in the form and lodge their
returns electronically.

In June 2003, at the Net World Order conference, held at the CeBIT
trade show in New York City, and sponsored by the Business Council for
the United Nations, Bruno Lanvin from the World Bank said

These countries need cheap and efficient technology to make the
giant leaps necessary to catch up with the rest of the world. Many
are now using Linux, which looks to become the No. 1 operating
system in China and India soon.

Spain's regional government of Extremadura announced in April
2002 (see, for example, Linux
Weekly News) its LinEx project, a GNU/Linux distribution based on
Debian with GNOME as its default desktop environment. Extremadura set
itself the goals of creating conditions for wide-spread adoption of
information technology and increase computer literacy among the
citizens. However, their Microsoft solution was not possible because
of license costs. So the Extremadura government turned to open source
software and the government gave away the product CDs to government
offices and schools. The Extremadura government announced an
installed base of over 80,000 LinEx computers in schools and 33
computer centers for use by the general population.

Mexico City's municipal government announced plans in March 2001 (see,
for example,
Wired
News) to move to the Linux operating system and “to use the money
it saves to fund social welfare programs.”